Such a change would put the U.S. more in line with guidance in other countries and with the World Health Organization, which recommends one dose for children and adolescents only if they have comorbidities.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering pulling COVID-19 from the government’s vaccine recommendations for children, according to a Tuesday report from Politico.
Citing two anonymous sources, Politico noted that Kennedy is still mulling over these changes. But if it pushes through, this new directive would remove COVID-19 vaccines from guidelines for childhood vaccines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which many doctors reference when recommending immunization schedules for their patients. Currently, the CDC recommends that all infants aged 6 months and up be given a coronavirus shot.
Such a change, according to CNN, would put the U.S. more in line with international guidance. The UK, Canada and many other countries do not recommend an annual COVID-19 vaccine for healthy young people. The World Health Organization similarly recommends one dose for children and adolescents only if they have comorbidities.
Still, analysts at BMO Capital Markets said in a Tuesday evening note to investors that removing COVID-19 from CDC recommendations “would be a meaningful negative step, reflecting RFK Jr.’s broader comfort making unilateral decisions.”
Tuesday’s news will likely be “a negative headwind” for companies developing vaccines, including BioNTech, Pfizer and Merck, according to BMO, which suggested that Kennedy’s “rhetoric” will also be challenging for the space as investor “uncertainty and fear” mount regarding the degree to which the Secretary “will seek to influence vaccine policy.”
The change, if it happens, could align with recommendations from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices—an independent panel composed of medical and public health experts—which last week considered narrowing their COVID-19 vaccination guidelines. Specifically, the committee could change that to a risk-based recommendation, advising two doses of COVID-19 vaccines each year for adults over 65 and people with weakened immune function. Other groups who may be included are those at high risk of COVID-19, such as healthcare workers or children in daycare.
An HHS spokesperson told Politico that a decision regarding the matter has yet to be finalized. The publication’s sources, however, noted that Kennedy has been pushing internally to withdraw COVID-19 vaccines from the CDC schedule, insisting that there isn’t enough evidence to support their use in children.
As per the CDC’s own data, COVID-19 vaccination rates in children have been persistently low, hovering around the 10% mark since late 2024. Immunization intent is likewise weak, with approximately 50% of children noting that they “probably or definitely will not get a vaccine.”
Newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Marty Makary also recently touched on COVID-19 vaccines and the “epidemic of distrust” that he says this has fostered among the American public. Speaking on the Megyn Kelly show last week, Makary alleged, without offering evidence, that the FDA had previously downplayed side effects of these vaccines, which he says has harmed the agency’s reputation.
Editor’s note (April 23): This story has been updated to clarify the recommendation of the recent panel of independent advisors to the CDC and add information about the current recommendations in other countries.
